Congress MLA from Rajkot (East), Indranil Rajyaguru, held a public meeting of street hawkers on Thursday and submitted a memorandum to municipal commissioner demanding better facilities for them in the city.

“The UPA government had formed the street vendor policy for ensuring that you continue to earn your livelihood. But officers of Rajkot Municipal Corporation (RMC) are harassing you in the name of smart city. We shall fight for your rights,” Rajyaguru, the richest MLA of Gujarat who had declared property worth Rs 123 crore at the time of Gujarat Assembly election in 2012, said while addressing the meeting in Dhebar Chowk.

Dhebar Chowk is where the RMC headquarters is located and Rajyaguru said that he was holding the meeting close to head office as “civic officers had failed to listen to voices coming from far away”.

Former Leader of Opposition in RMC, Atul Rajani, said that the vendors were not against the policy of creating hawker zones but demanded that the civic body provide basic facilities there.

After the public meeting, Rajyaguru and other Congress leaders met Municipal Commissioner Vijay Nehra and submitted a memorandum and a charter of their demands.

“We have created 70 hawker zones in Rajkot, which is the highest in any city in entire state. Majority of them have lighting arrangement and where it is not there, we shall make it available in two days,” said the municipal commissioner.

Rajyaguru’s poll pitch

Congress MLA Indranil Rajyaguru used the public meeting to make a pitch for election of RMC scheduled later this year. “Those sitting in the RMC office are not listening to you and instead are harassing you. They have been occupying that space for many years…
Opportunity will come later this year when RMC goes to poll,” Rajyaguru said.